The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [30]
The Imisil humanoid made no reply, just turned to look at something or someone out of shot. He gave a sharp nod then looked back.
‘Very well, Captain. I have decided to extend to you dialogue courtesies. Please state your initial query.’
‘That’s kind of ye, Presignifier. Naturally, I am concerned about this interdict upon my world and why the Imisil Mergence feels compelled to impose it. However, uppermost in my mind is this – how big is your fleet and when’s it due?’
Ash was giving him a wide-eyed, have-you-gone-totally-off-your-head? look while the Imisil officer’s thin-lipped mouth dropped open for a moment.
‘You will reveal how you came by this information – immediately.’ The humanoid’s voice was calm but his facial spot-clusters were pulsing with dark greens and reds.
‘Why, from you, Presignifier. From your actions.’ He glanced at Ash, who was frowning but gave a cautious nod. ‘Y’see, that vessel of yours is pretty impressive but a bit overpowered for a long-range spying mission, what with the Imisil Mergence being so far away. Not only that, it seems to me that a spying mission should be stealthy and concealed, which is not really how you’ve been going about it. You don’t look like you’re about to hide or head for the next star, which makes me think that maybe you’re the forward scouts for an Imisil fleet. Cannae be far behind ye, a few hours, I’d say.’ He smiled. ‘How am I doing?’
‘Your conjecture lacks rigour,’ said Presignifier Remosca. ‘Your suppositions are flawed. You are correct to say that other ships are coming but wrong to imagine them our allies … ’
‘Contact!’ said the tactical officer. ‘Single vessel, 96,500 kiloms on the other side of the planet, low exit velocity on a para-orbit course. They’ve not seen us … ’
‘It appears that you now have the opportunity to test your hullbreaker technology, Captain,’ Remosca said. ‘I think that you’ll find the newcomers sufficiently vicious and unreasonable.’
The Imisil commander’s image vanished from the viewport while other frames showed the Imisil vessel moving off in a tight curve, its course then angling towards the far side of the forest moon Nivyesta.
‘ID on the new arrival!’ said Ash.
‘Tygran,’ said the tac officer. ‘It’s the Ironfist.’
Greg felt the atmosphere on the bridge change. When he looked at Ash, the man’s expression was grim.
‘Okay, you seem to recognise the ship,’ he said. ‘What is it?’
‘Hunter-killer,’ said Ash. ‘That’s what it’s here to do.’ He gestured. ‘I’ll need my chair.’
‘Wait – let me speak to the Imisil captain again.’
Ash shook his head. ‘It was a good try, Mr Cameron. Now we have to get ready for combat.’
‘Ironfist is altering course,’ said the tac officer. ‘They’re tracking us and ramping up velocity.’
Greg stared at the Tygran commander. ‘You’re not going to fire up the engines and get us out of here?’
‘The Ironfist is faster than any other Tygran vessel, or even that Imisil ship,’ Ash said. ‘Escape would be … difficult.’
‘Then let’s open a channel to them,’ Greg said. ‘I’ll give him every bit of offended pride and arrogant conceit I can muster. Might make him stop and think.’
‘The Ironfist is an Iron Ravens ship,’ Ash said. ‘Its commander is Ethan Wade, a cold and ruthless man.’
‘I don’t care if he’s Sawney Bean, Dracula and Old Father Odin rolled into one, he’s about to find out that he’s trespassing on … ’
‘Ironfist is signalling us, sir,’ said the tac officer.
Ash gazed at Greg for a moment. Then the ghost of a smile cracked his stony visage. ‘Very well, let’s see how far this charade can take us.’
‘And one more thing – leave the channel unsecured,’ Greg said as he and Ash swapped seats.
‘No encryption?’
‘None. The Imisil are still out there and I want them to hear every word.’
Ash shrugged and nodded at his tac officer. A second later the head-and-shoulders image of a Tygran officer appeared on the viewport overlay as well as the command chair holopanel. The man had broad shoulders, a heavy jaw and dark, piercing eyes. Those eyes narrowed and he leaned forward but before he could